Sights and Sounds: Las Cruces-Volcano Vista (Recap and Video)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>ALBUQUERQUE – </strong>Dominant defense and a pair of short rushing touchdowns by stud running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1137388' first='Daniel' last='Amaro']</strong> in the second half lifted No. 5 Las Cruces to a 17-3 victory over No. 4 Volcano Vista in a Class 6A quarterfinal matchup Friday night at Community Stadium.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Las Cruces advances to the semifinals for the second consecutive year. The Bulldawgs will face the winner of Saturday afternoon's clash between No. 1 La Cueva and No. 9 Hobbs, either at the Field of Dreams or Watson Stadium.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>No. 3 Cleveland squares off with No. 2 Centennial next Friday night at Field of Dreams in the other Class 6A semifinal. The Storm and Hawks both won their quarterfinal games easily Friday night. Cleveland mercy-ruled Los Lunas, 57-7, while Centennial beat Rio Rancho, 43-17, at Field of Dreams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The tone of Friday night's game between Las Cruces and Volcano Vista, a rematch of an epic Week 2 battle won by the Hawks, was set early when Volcano Vista fumbled on its second offensive snap. Las Cruces recovered at the Hawks 27 and eventually settled for a 31-yard field goal less than four minutes into the contest for a quick 3-0 lead.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Las Cruces would never trail thereafter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Following those first points of the game, both defenses asserted their dominance over the remaining 23 minutes of the first half. Neither team was able to get anything going in the run game and both quarterbacks constantly faced heavy pressure when they dropped back to pass, resulting in several sacks. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Amaro's 54-yard TD run in the second quarter was negated by a block-in-the-back penalty and the Volcano Vista defense forced an incomplete pass on fourth down.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Volcano Vista offense was stopped on fourth down in the red zone on the first play of the second quarter. The Hawks came close to the red zone later in the second quarter but a 15-yard penalty pushed them out of scoring range.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thanks to multiple major penalties on Las Cruces, Volcano Vista was able to move into field goal range in the waning seconds of the first half after taking over at its 10-yard line with 2:21 left in the first half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The drive stalled at the Las Cruces 20-yard line and the Hawks booted a 37-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining in the second quarter to send the teams into halftime tied at 3-3. The two teams combined for 50 rushing yards in the first half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The second half belonged entirely to Las Cruces, in particular Amaro and the Bulldawgs' stout defense. The junior running back rushed for a 1-yard TD shortly after Las Cruces QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='853029' first='Gunnar' last='Guardiola']</strong> connected on a long pass to WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1142363' first='Francisco' last='Winnikoff']</strong> to move the ball inside the 5-yard line with about four minutes left in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Las Cruces led, 10-3, after three quarters. They added a second TD after halftime when Amaro powered over from the 1-yard line midway through the fourth quarter to make it 17-3. Amaro did most of the heavy lifting on the drive as he practically willed the Bulldawgs down the field.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Las Cruces missed a short field goal with less than two minutes remaining but intercepted a Volcano Vista to seal the deal with just over 1 minute showing on the clock. The Bulldawgs soon went into victory formation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 1: Team Runouts</strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/rN8rmQIvAfg?si=b4bJCEZzljEyY4EU","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/rN8rmQIvAfg?si=b4bJCEZzljEyY4EU </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 2: First Possessions (Las Cruces FG)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/2ycVxq5faZ0?si=1V6sv4WQ1s-rhz1f","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/2ycVxq5faZ0?si=1V6sv4WQ1s-rhz1f </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 3: Late First Quarter </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/h1jsTrliKhI?si=iHKKfZxvqIxrDfn7","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/h1jsTrliKhI?si=iHKKfZxvqIxrDfn7 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 4: Second Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/V3JSbtktQ58?si=il_zUeqe-it1zS2s","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/V3JSbtktQ58?si=il_zUeqe-it1zS2s </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 5: Late Second Quarter (Volcano Vista FG)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/s14ozcoT8Es?si=oYfHXNgP8TzOuN5M","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/s14ozcoT8Es?si=oYfHXNgP8TzOuN5M </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 6: Third Quarter</strong>   </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/xGklFc1EvdY?si=f_Y94_T3b4SUxQtu","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/xGklFc1EvdY?si=f_Y94_T3b4SUxQtu </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 7: Third Quarter (Las Cruces Touchdown) </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/vUCcaHffJWc?si=qxxkD2OFn3TDvnU3","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/vUCcaHffJWc?si=qxxkD2OFn3TDvnU3 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 8: Fourth Quarter (Las Cruces TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/hjpTK_a0ud4?si=TqlAaXre0BeFFsPp","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/hjpTK_a0ud4?si=TqlAaXre0BeFFsPp </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 9: Fourth Quarter - Final Minutes</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/3fCkVrR9mJs?si=1rKxwiXC46hMEIh1","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/3fCkVrR9mJs?si=1rKxwiXC46hMEIh1 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fri. Night Scoreboard (11/15) - Quarterfinals (6A-4A)<br><br>6A: Las Cruces 17, Volcano Vista 3<br>6A: Cleveland 57, Los Lunas 7<br>6A: Centennial 43, Rio Rancho 17<br>5A: Roswell 42, Highland 0<br>5A: Mayfield 21, Deming 7<br>4A: Bernalillo 37, Chaparral 6<br>4A: Espanola Valley 28, Taos 0 <a href="https://t.co/L8tpmSDoqG">pic.twitter.com/L8tpmSDoqG</a></p>&mdash; Prep Redzone New Mexico (@PrepRedzoneNM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1857663488451105161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Logan wins the 2024 Nusenda Credit Union 6-Man State Football Championships over Grady, 54-14. Congratulations to both teams on a fantastic season. <a href="https://twitter.com/nusendacu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nusendacu</a> <a href="https://t.co/FyWMyJqN2S">pic.twitter.com/FyWMyJqN2S</a></p>&mdash; NMAA (@_NMAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1857646727727296693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->